Belarus says foreigners can only fill tanks using hard currency

Belarus's oil monopoly Belarusneft said foreigners are no longer allowed to fill up their cars using Belarusian rubles, in the latest attempt to defuse the foreign currency crisis which is gripping the former Soviet state.

Belarusneft, which owns most of Belarus's gasoline stations, said on Monday that new rules had been brought in for "cars registered in foreign states."

"At filling stations located along the roadways marked 'M', 'M/E' and in border territories, foreign-registered cars can only be filled up for U.S. dollars, euros or Russian rubles," the company said in a statement.

Belarus cut the official value of its currency against the dollar by more than one-third last month and imposed restrictions on the export of gasoline on June 11. Belarus, known as "Europe's last dictatorship," has a huge trade deficit and its hard currency reserves are rapidly depleting.